Egg curry in cashew gravy

Egg curry in cashew gravy is that shahi (royal) update your basic egg curry needs! A rich creamy gravy base made of cashew cream and a tomato base, this curry is everything you need something quick but fancy to serve guests, simply want to treat your family to a night of Mughlai indulgence or dispel any moody blues!

“It was June, and the world smelled of roses. The sunshine was like powdered gold over the grassy hillside.”

Well, technically its July but this just seems to fit. With the world around me looking like a preening peacock luxuriating in what can only be called as the dance of romance, sunshine, that golden beam of hope that slips in through my sheer white curtains seem like powdered gold to me. There is no doubt in my mind that sunshine was meant to make people happy. Especially people like me, who as much as they love the cooler weather and the verdant green place my garden has become again, are not the biggest fans of the grey.

I promised I wouldn’t do this. Talk about weather that is. But its kind of unavoidable when the weather is this glum! I love the romantic mood the rains bring, of course I do. I am kind of romantic myself. But when you have to hustle all day long, work long hours, have a thousand errands to run and are a food blogger relying completely on natural sunshine, all this grey just gets to you after the first few days. It disappears just like the petrichor that gently wafts off the earth and slowly dissolves into nothingness. So did my excitement at monsoon finally arriving in India. Now, after 7 days on constant rain and me continually chasing light in order to capture a few very very quickly shot food pics for y’all, here I am, bored of the grey and in the mood to create some sunshine of my own.

Now that is when this beautiful bowl of food you see here happened. It was Saturday and I was in the mood for something indulgent. As luck would have it, it was raining too hard to even bother getting the car out. Not that P or me even wanted to move out of the warm and dry(stressing dry here) cocoons of our house. Ideally I wanted to make a Thai chicken curry and jasmine rice, but that would need a trip to the exotic vegetable vendor and another to the chicken place. Hmm. Nope. Lets put that thought on hold coz hey I am not about to get my feet or my finally blow dried hair wet again. Not till Monday when I absolutely have to. So a quick glance in the refrigerator threw up eggs at my face. Languishing in a corner was some cream I had forgotten too. The light bulb went on and finally this happened. This egg curry in cashew gravy.

What a delight of a curry this is! Creamy, rich, with spicy undertones, a flavorful bhuna (fried) masala base and with the hint of cashews in the air as I cooked this. Add to that golden , hard boiled eggs that have been pan fried till the whites are all golden and lined with paprika, pepper, turmeric and garam masala. Yum Yum Yum!! I served this egg curry in cashew gravy with a simple ghee rice and some hot off the tawa lachha paratha (flaky paratha or flatbread that goes so so well with almost all Indian curries, remind you show you one soon).

The egg curry in cashew gravy is inspired from Mughlai cuisine of India. True to the inherent properties of North Indian cuisine, this curry is rich and creamy, befitting royalty and has subtle spicy undertones. For me, as much as I love the basic 20 min egg curry, this egg curry in cashew gravy is probably the best upgrade you can give the humble anda (egg) curry. I make a similar gravy of paneer, that is rightly called Shahi paneer. This is almost the same except you add hard boil fried eggs. It has to be hard boiled for curries, as much as P loves soft boiled ones, it simply wont do for curries. Try the hard boiled ones in this curry, promise you wont regret it!

When I served lunch that day, I hadn’t told anyone what I was making. As I cooked my egg curry in cashew gravy, reaching for some paprika here, some cream there,the happiest sounds on this earth filled my ears. The giggling, free, uninhibited laughter of Baby D and her friends sharing some of the chocolate brookies (inspired by Harry of Masterchef Australia fame) I had baked and her toys. Her new robot was dancing and reading story to them and Pippin (the robot) was being intervened with a whole butt load of innocent loud laughter. Someone truly said “laughter is a sunbeam of the soul” and in my eyes, this golden egg curry in cashew gravy was like sunshine in my bowl!

A rich creamy gravy base made of cashew cream and a tomato base, this curry is everything you need something quick but fancy to serve guests or simply want to treat your family to a night of Mughlai indulgence.

Start by boiling the eggs, make sure the eggs are hard boiled for this recipe. Peel the eggs and keep aside.

Heat 1 tablespoon of mustard oil(vegetable/canola will also work) in a wok.

Gently add the eggs to the oil, add some salt, turmeric powder, black pepper and red chili powder or paprika to the eggs and let it become golden and slightly browned on both sides. Remove to a plate.

For the cashew gravy:

Make the ginger,garlic and green chilies paste by using fresh ingredients and blending them.

Chop up the onion and tomatoes really fine.

Soak the cashew in warm water for 30 mins. After 30 minutes, blend the cashew with just a tad of water into a completely fine paste.

Soak the kesar in 2 tablespoon of warm cream and keep aside. The rest of the cream should be at room temperature.

Now, once the prepping is done, heat a cauldron. Add 2 tablespoon oil and let it heat up.

Add the whole spices and let it pop.

Add the cumin seeds after it and let that pop too.

Next, add the ginger,garlic chillie paste and saute till the raw smell leaves, about two mins.

Add the finely copped onion and saute till fragrant and pink,do not brown.

Add the spices to it and the tomatoes, saute well.

At this point of time, I like to add ¼ cup of water and let the masala cook in it. This ensures that I dont need to add more oil. Keep stirring and frying the masala till really cooked. Almost ten mins. The masala should leave oil at the sides. At no time should you think of cutting back on this. The masala is the most important and tricky bit.

Next, crush the dried fenugreek in your hands and add that to the masala..Mix well and let it cook for 2 more minutes.

Cover and cook on sim for 10 minutes. Stir in between to make sure its not sticking.

Add ½ cup water. And boil it.

One the gravy has thickened considerably, add the cashew nut paste to it and let it cook for 5 mins. Do not cover anymore.

Add the kesar /saffron infused cream and the remaining cream to the gravy, give a thorough stir..

!NotesSoaking the cashew in the warm water makes blending it into paste much easier and results in really creamy paste. You can avoid the cream if desired, it is still good,I have made it both ways and its delicious.In a time crunch, you can use ready made ginger garlic paste and simply add chopped green chillies to the masala. Have done that on crazy hectic mornings too. Frying the masala is of paramount importance to a curry. Please do not rush it. Do not burn it. You have to check it, stir it, add splashes of water (as opposed to oil) if you feel its sticking. I use a non stick ceramide pot for my gravies so I have never needed more than 2 tbsp. But you can change that as required.I never measure my ingredients as I eye ball them. So adjust acc to taste, and use your better judgement.

Post navigation

5 thoughts

This is utterly gorgeous, and I’m so excited to try it, I’m always looking for great new vegetarian meals, and those eggs are epic!!sue | theviewfromgreatisland recently posted…No Bake Raspberry Cheesecake Bars

What a beautiful looking curry! It does look very luxurious and indulgent. I’ve never fried eggs for curry before, but I think I have to try it.Annemarie @ justalittlebitofbacon recently posted…Roasted Hakurei Turnips and Radishes

I love the richness that cashews bring to a recipe, but I’ve always only used them in sweets. I’m a huge curry fan, so I can’t wait to give this a try — Pinning this for later!Marianne | Basil & Bubbly recently posted…Cucumber Tomato Salad